Method of producing a panel assembly

ABSTRACT

A method of constructing a reinforced closure panel assembly for a vehicle roof assembly includes providing a substantially planar panel having two opposite surfaces, providing a reinforcement having a circumferential flange fitting on one of the surfaces of the panel, providing adhering material, positioning the reinforcement on said surface of the panel with interposition of the adhering material at least temporarily adhering the reinforcement to the panel such that an enclosed space is formed between the reinforcement and the panel, sealed by the adhering material, and injecting fluid encapsulating material into the space so as to substantially completely fill the space, allowing it to solidify and forming adherence of the reinforcement to the panel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a divisional of and claims priority of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/431,918, filed Apr. 29, 2009, the contentof which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The discussion below is merely provided for general backgroundinformation and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining thescope of the claimed subject matter.

In the prior art, reinforcements and/or brackets are fastened to panels,in particular glass panels, to increase their stiffness. This is done bymeans of either a PU (polyurethane) gluing process, or an encapsulatingprocess using PU low pressure injection molding.

In the gluing process, the surfaces to be connected are prepared and areprovided with glue which should be cured for a long time, several hours,after the surfaces have been put together. The curing process shouldtake place under the influence of the humidity in the air in aconditioned environment. No mechanical load can be exerted on the gluedparts during the securing process.

In the encapsulating process, the parts to be connected are insertedinto a tool/mold, after which the PU encapsulation is provided in a lowpressure injection molding process. The reinforcements and/or bracketsare surrounded at least partly by the PU material. After a short timelapse, a few minutes depending on the amount of encapsulating materialand glass area, the assembly can be removed from the tool, and theproduct should be finished in order to remove films and injectionresidues along the edges of the encapsulation. The product is thenimmediately ready to be loaded.

An important characteristic of a (glass) panel assembly in a vehicleroof construction is the stiffness of the panel. Stiffness is requiredto prevent an excessive bending of the panel in conditions in which thedynamic pressure on the outside of the panel is much lower than on theinside. Such a pressure difference, which may be present at high vehiclespeeds, can lead to seal malfunction at the edges of the panel, andtherefore a noise problem, if the panel is not sufficiently rigid.

The stiffness of a panel in which the reinforcement is glued to thepanel is less than that of encapsulated reinforcement, assuming that thereinforcements are equally rigid. In order to create a sufficientrigidity in glued reinforcements, the reinforcements and/or bracketsshould be made even more rigid, which means more height, which isunfavorable as it leads to head room loss for the vehicle passengers.

A disadvantage of the encapsulation process is that the material isrelatively expensive and also the encapsulating tools require higherinvestments.

SUMMARY

This Summary and the Abstract herein are provided to introduce aselection of concepts in a simplified form that are further describedbelow in the Detailed Description. This Summary and the Abstract are notintended to identify key features or essential features of the claimedsubject matter, nor are they intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subjectmatter is not limited to implementations that solve any or alldisadvantages noted in the background.

An aspect of the invention provides a method for making a reinforcedpanel assembly, comprising:

-   -   providing a substantially planar panel having two opposite        surfaces,    -   providing a reinforcement having a circumferential flange        fitting on one of the surfaces of the panel,    -   providing adhering material,    -   positioning the reinforcement on said surface of the panel with        interposition of the adhering material at least temporarily        adhering the reinforcement to the panel such that an enclosed        space is formed between the reinforcement and the panel, sealed        by the adhering material,    -   injecting fluid encapsulating material into the space so as to        substantially completely fill the space, allowing it to solidify        and forming adherence, and in one embodiment the main adherence,        of the reinforcement to the panel.

Due to this method it is possible to use very fluid encapsulatingmaterial, without requiring an external tool or mold, as the panel andreinforcement function as the mold. Because the encapsulating materialis only provided internally, no extensive finishing is necessary. As useis made of encapsulating material, short curing times are available sothat panel assemblies can be loaded quickly and the manufacturingprocess can be continued without a long waiting time. No conditionedstorage space for the panel assemblies is necessary. Generally, theencapsulating material will provide the main adherence of thereinforcement to the panel, that is it will be the primary method ofadherence when compared separately to each of other methods of adherenceused to secure the reinforcement to the panel.

An embodiment of the method includes providing two holes in thereinforcement, and injecting the fluid encapsulating material into thespace through one hole and allowing air to escape from the space throughthe other hole. In this method, it is possible to close off theinjection hole completely by the injection tool so that it is easy toinject the encapsulating material into the space. It is favorable if thetwo holes are spaced maximally from each other, so that theencapsulating material reaches the air vent hole only if the space isalready almost completely filled.

Although the adhering material can be provided in the form of a quicklycuring glue, it is more convenient to provide it in the form of doublesided adhesive tape which is positioned on either the flange of thereinforcement or the panel before the reinforcement and the panel areput together. Depending on the shape of the reinforcement flange theadhesive tape can be fully or partly pre-shaped in order to easily placeit in the correct position. It should form a closed loop that isimpermeable to the encapsulating fluid, so that it seals the slitbetween the reinforcement flange and the panel so as to prevent theencapsulating material from leaving the space before it is cured. Theadhering material should be robust enough to withstand the external loadduring assembly of the parts and during the low pressure injectionmolding, while it should also be sufficiently flexible to absorbtolerances of the parts to be connected.

If the panel is provided with a peripheral seal arrangement which isfastened to the panel by encapsulation, this encapsulation can be donesimultaneously with/or separate from the filling of the reinforcementwith encapsulating material.

Another aspect of the invention provides a reinforced closure panelassembly for use in a vehicle roof assembly, which comprises:

-   -   a substantially planar closure panel having two opposite        surfaces,    -   at least a reinforcement having a circumferential flange fitting        on one of the surfaces of the panel with interposition of        adhering material, thereby forming an enclosed space between the        panel and the reinforcement within the circumferential flange        sealed by the adhering material,    -   solidified encapsulating material substantially completely        filling said space to form adherence, and in one embodiment the        main adherence, of the reinforcement to the panel.

In this structure it is favorable if the height of the space between thereinforcement and the panel is substantially less than the widththereof. A small height of the space reduces the head room loss andreduces the amount of encapsulating material to fill the space. Thislatter reduces the cost of the assembly as the encapsulating material isquite expensive. The height of the space does hardly contribute to thebonding force of the encapsulating material. A low height of thereinforcement might lead to a reduced longitudinal rigidity thereof butthis can be compensated if the reinforcement has a portion laterallyoffset from the space that is more rigid along the length than theportion surrounding the space. For example this portion may form abracket having members to fasten the panels to other parts. As suchbracket will generally extend away from the panel, it createslongitudinal rigidity.

Further details and advantages of aspects of the invention follow fromthe description with reference to the drawings showing embodiments ofthe invention by way of example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a first embodiment of a reinforced closurepanel assembly for a vehicle roof assembly.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are enlarged cross sectional views along the lines II-IIand III-III, respectively, in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to that of FIG. 1, but showing a secondembodiment of the reinforced closure panel assembly according to theinvention.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are enlarged cross sectional views along the lines V-V andVI-VI, respectively, in FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-3 show a first embodiment of a reinforced closure panel assemblyfor a vehicle roof assembly. Such panel assembly is used to close anopening in a vehicle roof, in particular the roof of a passenger car.The panel may be stationary or may be movable in order to selectivelyopen and close the roof opening. Such roof assemblies are known and notshown here.

The reinforced closure panel assembly includes a substantially planarpanel 1 having an upper surface 2, a lower surface 3, a front side 4, arear side 5, a left side 6 and a right side 7 so as to form asubstantially rectangular panel. The panel may be slightly curved inlongitudinal and/or cross section and the sides may be straight orslightly curved, while the corners between the sides 4-7 may be roundedor not.

The panel 1 will generally be made from glass or the like, but alsoother materials such as plastic, are conceivable. Panel 1 may betransparent, semi-transparent or non-transparent, and may even haveadjustable light transmitting characteristics.

In order to improve the rigidity of the panel 1, in particularly againstbending thereof, the panel 1 is provided with at least onereinforcement, in the case of FIG. 1, with four reinforcements, i.e. afront reinforcement 8, a rear reinforcement 9, a left reinforcement 10and a right reinforcement 11.

Each reinforcement 8-11 is provided with a circumferential flange 12(hatched in FIG. 1) so as to form a closed loop and having a planarshape fitting the local shape of the panel 1 at the position where therespective reinforcements 8-11 should be attacked. When the respectivereinforcement 8-11 is positioned on the lower surface 3 of the panel 1,the reinforcement 8-11 and the lower surface of the panel 1 enclose aspace 13.

To ensure that the reinforcement 8-11 sealingly engage the lower surface3 of the panel 1 so as to enable the space 13 to be filled with fluidmaterial, there is provided an adhering material between the flange 12of the reinforcement 8-11 and the panel 1, here in the form of anadhesive tape 14 which adheres on two sides so as to be able to adherethe flange 12 of the reinforcement 8-11 to the lower surface 3 of thepanel 1 at least temporarily and to seal the space 13 at least when itis being filled with encapsulating material.

The adhesive tape 14 can be supplied on rolls, and may be tailored byproduction workers on site. If the flange 12 has a more complex shape(“footprint”), it is more convenient to shape the tape 14 so as toconform to the footprint, and also an intermediate solution isconceivable in which the tape is prepared, for example by having anincision such that the shape of the footprint is covered. The surfacesto be adhered by the tape or other adhering material are prepared toenhance the bonding, for example by cleaning or chemically treating thesurfaces to promote adhesion as required by the adhering material used.

FIGS. 1-3 further show that each reinforcement 8-11 is provided with atleast two (and here by way of example exactly two) holes 15, 16 whichare arranged on opposite ends of each reinforcement 8-11 which areelongated in shape so that there is a maximum spacing between holes 15and 16 in each reinforcement 8-11. One of the holes 15, 16 is used toinject encapsulating material 17, while the other hole is used to allowair in the space 13 to escape when the fluid material is injected, so asto allow the fluid material to completely fill the space 13.

The fluid bonding material that is used to fill the space 13 in order tosecurely bond the reinforcement 8-11 to the panel 1 may be the wellknown PU encapsulating material (e.g. a two component material thatsolidifies quickly under absence of air and humidity, as in contrast toPU glue which requires air and humidity to solidify), but also otherfluid materials that solidify quickly may be used, such as PVC(polyvinyl chloride) encapsulating material. As a further material it isconceivable to use structural adhesive foam, which is a material thatfoams when it is injected and cures/solidifies. Any material that isused should adhere well to the material of the panel and of thereinforcement and it is favorable if the material also contributes tothe rigidity of the reinforcement. The material of the reinforcementcan, by way of example and not limitation, be a metal, such as steel oraluminium, but also rigid (fiber-reinforced) plastics are conceivable aswell as combinations thereof.

The front reinforcement 8 as shown in the cross section in FIG. 2 has alow profile, so that the height of space 13 is considerably less thanthe width thereof. In one embodiment, “considerably less” means in thisrespect less than substantially half of the general width of the space13, which of course may vary along the length of the reinforcement 8-11.

A lower height of the reinforcement 8 generally leads to a lowerrigidity. FIG. 3 shows a manner to increase the rigidity, in this caseused to increase the rigidity of the rear reinforcement 9. As is shown,the reinforcement 9 includes a portion surrounding the space 13 and afurther portion 18 being laterally off set from the space 13 and beingpositioned outside of the circumference defined by the flange 12. Thisportion 18 has a height greater than that of the space 13 and thereforeprovides an increased rigidity along the length of the reinforcement 9.This way of increasing the rigidity is particularly useful if head roomloss is not very important there. There is provided a further adhesivetape 19 to attach this portion 18 of the reinforcement 9 at a positionspaced from the adhesive tape 14, but this adhesive tape 19 does nothave to seal the space between the lower surface 3 of the panel 1 andthe portion 18 of the reinforcement 9. It is just provided to form afurther connection between the reinforcement 9 and the panel 1.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show that at the outer circumference of the panel 1 thereis provided a peripheral seal arrangement 20 including in this case abulb seal 21 attached to the panel 1 through encapsulating material 22.The encapsulation of the peripheral seal surface can take placesimultaneously with filling the space 13 with encapsulating material 17or can be done in a separate process step.

FIG. 4 shows a further embodiment of a panel assembly, whereinreinforcements 8-11 are united into a reinforcement arrangement thatextends along the four sides 4-7 of the panel 1 and forms a one pieceunit. However, also in this arrangement, the reinforcements 8-11 extendonly along one side of the panel 1 and therefore also the space 13 inthese reinforcements 8-11 only extends along one side of the panel 1.The reinforcements 8-11 of this second embodiment are shaped somewhatdifferent from those of the FIG. 1 embodiment, but have the sameprinciple. The front reinforcement 8 is now constructed similarly to therear reinforcement 9.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are two cross sections of the right reinforcement 11 andit is shown that the reinforcement 11 (and also the other reinforcement10) is provided with a bracket portion 24 which is laterally offset fromthe space 13 and this bracket portion 24 is used to connect the panelassembly to another part such as a frame of the roof assembly or anoperating mechanism that is used to move the panel assembly betweendifferent positions. In the cross section according to FIG. 5, thisbracket portion 24 extends downwardly, while in FIG. 6 it extendssubstantially parallel to the panel 1 and this bracket portion 24increases the rigidity of the respective reinforcement 10, 11.

It follows from the above that aspects of the invention provide a panelassembly manufacturing process that is efficient and cost effective. Nowaiting times and conditioned storing rooms are required. Finishing ofthe encapsulating material is not required and the encapsulatingequipment can be kept simple. Using encapsulating material leads to ahigher rigidity than with glue.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above ashas been determined by the courts. Rather, the specific features andacts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaims.

1. A method of constructing a reinforced closure panel assembly for a vehicle roof assembly, comprising: providing a substantially planar panel having an upper surface and a lower surface; providing a reinforcement having a circumferential flange fitting on the lower surface of the panel; providing adhering material; positioning the reinforcement on said lower surface of the panel with interposition of the adhering material at least temporarily adhering the reinforcement to the lower surface of the panel such that an enclosed space is formed between the reinforcement and the panel, the enclosed space being completely sealed by the adhering material around the circumferential flange; and injecting fluid encapsulating material into the space so as to substantially completely fill the space, and allowing it to solidify and forming adherence of the reinforcement to the panel, the encapsulating material being of a fluidic type prior to solidification wherein the adhering material prevents the encapsulating material from leaving the enclosed space before solidifying.
 2. The method according to claim 1, and further comprising: providing at least two holes in the reinforcement, and injecting the fluid encapsulating material into the space through one hole and allowing air to escape from the space through another hole.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the adhering material is provided in the form of double sided adhesive tape which is positioned on either the flange of the reinforcement or the lower surface of the panel to form a completely closed loop around the space before the reinforcement and the panel are put together.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the panel is provided with a circumferential sealing arrangement which is fastened to the panel by encapsulation which is done simultaneously or separate from the filling of the reinforcement with fluid encapsulating material.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the height of the space between the reinforcement and the panel is substantially less than the width thereof.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said space is elongated having two ends, and at least two holes being provided in the reinforcement entering the space near the respective ends.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement has an adjacent portion laterally offset from said space that is more rigid along a length thereof than a portion of the reinforcement surrounding the space.
 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement includes a bracket being laterally offset from and extending away from a portion of the reinforcement surrounding the space, the bracket having a free edge spaced apart from the lower surface.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the panel is rectangular and wherein the reinforcement is secured to the panel proximate a first edge of the panel, the method further comprising: providing a second reinforcement having a second circumferential flange fitting on the lower surface of the panel; positioning the second reinforcement on said lower surface of the panel along a second edge of the panel that is opposite the first edge with interposition of the adhering material at least temporarily adhering the second reinforcement to the lower surface of the panel such that an enclosed second space is formed between the second reinforcement and the panel, the enclosed second space being completely sealed by the adhering material around the second circumferential flange; and injecting fluid encapsulating material into the second space so as to substantially completely fill the second space, and allowing it to solidify and forming adherence of the second reinforcement to the panel, the encapsulating material being of a fluidic type prior to solidification wherein the adhering material prevents the encapsulating material from leaving the enclosed second space before solidifying.
 10. The method according to claim 9, and further comprising: providing at least two holes in the second reinforcement, and injecting the fluid encapsulating material into the second space through one hole and allowing air to escape from the second space through another hole.
 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the adhering material is provided in the form of double sided adhesive tape which is positioned on either the flange of the second reinforcement or the lower surface of the panel to form a completely closed loop around the second space before the reinforcement and the panel are put together.
 12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the panel is provided with a circumferential sealing arrangement which is fastened to the panel by encapsulation which is done simultaneously or separate from the filling of the second reinforcement with fluid encapsulating material.
 13. The method of claim 9 and further comprising: providing a third and a fourth reinforcement, each of the third and fourth reinforcements having a third and fourth circumferential flange, respectively, fitting on the lower surface of the panel; positioning the third reinforcement on said lower surface of the panel along a third edge of the panel with interposition of the adhering material at least temporarily adhering the third reinforcement to the lower surface of the panel such that an enclosed third space is formed between the third reinforcement and the panel, the enclosed third space being completely sealed by the adhering material around the third circumferential flange; positioning the fourth reinforcement on said lower surface of the panel along a fourth edge of the panel with interposition of the adhering material at least temporarily adhering the fourth reinforcement to the lower surface of the panel such that an enclosed fourth space is formed between the fourth reinforcement and the panel, the enclosed fourth space being completely sealed by the adhering material around the fourth circumferential flange; and injecting fluid encapsulating material into each of the second space and third space so as to substantially completely fill the second space and third space, and allowing it to solidify and forming adherence of each of the third and fourth reinforcements to the panel, the encapsulating material being of a fluidic type prior to solidification wherein the adhering material prevents the encapsulating material from leaving the enclosed third space and fourth space before solidifying.
 14. The method according to claim 13, and further comprising: providing at least two holes in each of the third reinforcement and fourth reinforcement, and injecting the fluid encapsulating material into the corresponding space through one hole and allowing air to escape from the corresponding space through another hole.
 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the adhering material is provided in the form of double sided adhesive tape which is positioned on either the flanges of the third and fourth reinforcements or the lower surface of the panel to form a completely closed loop around the corresponding space before the reinforcement and the panel are put together.
 16. The method of claim 13 wherein the reinforcements are united together apart from being secured to the panel. 